Before the Mexican Cartel came to Bolivia, there were many other Bolivian Cartels and it was El Sueño who killed its leaders one by one and slowly took over Bolivia. Their connection with key politicians ended up them controlling most of Bolivia but before they got to control the cartel was at war with UNIDAD which engulfed the whole of Bolivia and in the end the government had to sign a secret peace treaty with the cartel saying, "If you stop killing our people, we will look the other way." Since then the cartel grew with power spreading its influence across all of South America and soon tried to spread its influence to other countries.

With the cartel growing with power and earning 2 billion dollars a week from its production and sale of cocaine the cartel modernized by buying top of the line weapons from the black market, Humvees and armored SUVs outfitted with swivel-mounted miniguns, LAV-III IFVs, along with helicopters like the Little Bird and Black Hawk.

Santa Blanca was founded by El Sueño, a dangerous sicario who had a dream-hence the name El Sueño-of creating a narco-state. To accomplish this, Sueño came to Bolivia and formed the Santa Blanca Cartel in 2008. The citizens were given two options: "silver or lead" - work for Santa Blanca, or be killed.

The foundation of the Santa Blanca Cartel is production, the branch that deals with the raw materials used to build the cartel’s empire. This operation performs every step of transforming a coca leaf into its white powdery counterpart. To achieve this magic, production uses a large network of coca fields, laboratories, and hideouts, and Santa Blanca’s henchmen supervise the work of the cocaleros, or farmers, to ensure they meet the production demands by way of threats and extortion.

Production is headed by El Yayo (the Grandfather), an ex-cocalero who became a cocaine producer. Formerly a coca union leader, El Yayo is the highest-ranking Bolivian inside Santa Blanca and he works closely with La Gringa, a disgraced Sweden chemist.

INFLUENCE

The influence branch manages the cartel’s recruitment and public image through manipulating religion, corrupting education, controlling the elite, and even operating a humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO). Influence leaders are often found in churches, monasteries, sanctuaries, and NGO camps, preaching El Sueño’s words and trying to convert people to the Santa Muerte cult. Their mission is subtle but clear: they propagate all Santa Blanca’s dreadful actions as divine acts, making people believe El Sueño is a saint who really cares about their well-being. Despite their sweet lies, some of the cartel’s doings are too much for the people to digest.

El Cardenal is in charge of influence branch, and is the direct spiritual advisor to El Sueño. Excommunicated by the Catholic Church for preaching Santa Muerte doctrine, his religious background makes him perfect for winning the hearts and minds of the people. Despite his traditional appearance, El Cardenal is also very aware of the crucial role of mass communications for disseminating the cartel’s propaganda. That is why he relies on the smooth talking , DJ Perico, the official DJ of the Santa Blanca radio and his henchman, to communicate his teachings. Similarly, El Chido, a Narco-Corrido singer, adds the music to a finely tuned propaganda machine, playing epic songs about El Sueño and his alleged exploits.

TRAFFICKING

Trafficking deals with money laundering, packaging and the transporting of final products both within the country and internationally. They own processing plants, shipping stations, railways, and airports. Trafficking makes sure the product always flows to where the demand is, and they use the most dubious and creative ways to ship drugs to satisfy that demand. Air, land, sea – and even under sea – nothing can stop them.

Nidia Flores, the fearless Beauty Queen, is the head of trafficking. Smart and manipulative, Nidia rules the drug transportation business with efficiency along with her right hand, El Boquita.

SECURITY

Security makes sure that every division of the Santa Blanca Cartel can operate in safety by taking care of issues rising with the Kataris 26 rebels and the government’s Unidad forces. Their duties also include protecting both departing drug shipments and incoming money to keep Santa Blanca’s business flowing. This branch is heavily armed and often operates in outposts, sicario’s houses, prisons, camps, and road checkpoints. If you become a problem for the cartel, you will receive a visit from security and it won’t be pleasant, that’s for sure. Just pray that you end up dead instead of being tortured in one of their prisons.

El Muro (the Wall) is the head of security. Personal bodyguard and childhood friend of El Sueño, he’s cold and professional, and is the cartel equivalent of a Ghost. His little brother, La Plaga, works closely with him.

Members of the cartel often need some authority. Veterans act as morale boosters, giving orders to their soldiers - such as chase the player down or defend the camp. Target these guys to destabilize the enemy.

Riflemen are the most common of Santa Blanca soldiers. They use cover whenever possible, moving between them to get the right shot. If a lieutenant is present, they follow and move with him. If you flee them or attack from afar, they may enter a vehicle and chase you down While mostly present in Santa Blanca camps, keep an eye out for them in the wild as they patrol the roads of Bolivia.

The Sniper is the long-range spotter/fighter. He seeks vantage points, such as watchtowers or terraces, and fights from there. He targets the player from afar and raises the alarm if spotted. Tends to take his time when shooting but inflicts massive damage.

Heavy Gunners are well armored and fight with a big LMG. Their armored helmets can sometimes make them more resistant to headshots. They slowly progress toward the player, shooting long bursts that inflict a lot of damage. They discharge suppressive fire, forcing you to take cover while their comrades reposition and swarm your position.

Pac Katari led a rebellion against the cartel. The rebellion has been growing since the beginning of Operation Kingslayer. This is because all of the work that the Ghost Team (Nomad) has done has been credited to The Rebellion to keep their presence unknown.

The cartel was infiltrated by the DEA agent Ricky Sandoval. After his cover was blown, the agent is killed and the US government initiates Operation Kingslayer to take down the cartel. A Ghost Recon led by Nomad is sent in and systematically works their way up to El Sueño.

In the Narco Road DLC, a parallel story to the main game, players take control of a Ghost infiltrator who joins one of the gangs inside the cartel in order to uncover the secretive head of their world-class smuggling operations.

Santa Blanca, therefore, becomes allies, and a new enemy known as Los Sin Almas becomes a rival gang.

The Fallen Ghosts DLC takes place after you have completed the main game with all of the cartel's operatons shattered and El Sueño gave himself up for full immunity. It has mostly left or been killed by Los Extranjeros.